Welcome to the Organization
by TakiOokami
Summary: After the strange appearence of the Akatsuki at a small town school, two ninja wana-bes get trapped in the complicated web of the Akatsuki's evil, but perhaps not so truly dangerous, organization.
1. Introduction

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto_

_This is my first story, and it may eventually take a turn towards the humorous, so you've been forewarned XD_

Our lockers were our only sanctuary in that beige colored hell. Who would've guessed that our favorite hangout, by the garbage can at the end of that linoleum covered hallway, would be where Courtney and I ended up when **they **came.

Wednesday went by as normal for the first three periods of school. Lunch passed by in a blissful blur of twenty five minutes, full of disjointed bouts of giggling and the exchanging of cheap dollar-store foods. Courtney and Julie always sat together during that over-joyous half hour, pressed shoulder to shoulder, their matching brown hair blending together in the corner of everyone else's eyes. They both were almost identical, with the same pale pallor shared between them, except Courtney was lacking in height compared to Julie. Her face was also bespectacled by stylish black frames. Their two member group was almost always overlooked by the upperclassmen, along with their peers in their same grade. That wasn't a problem, and besides, the rest of the school had good reason to avoid them. Courtney and Julie stood alone in their little corner of the universe, undisturbed…at least until the fourth period bell blared over their heads and the duo rose from their seats simultaneously. For some strange reason, however the screeching of the alarm-like toll was cut short by the ping of the intercom.

The roar of the lunchroom battled with the announcement that rang from the speakers overhead, and of course the intercom lost.

"What the fuck did they say?" Courtney blurted out, a bit too loudly for Julie's taste. A lunch lady shot them a glance, but Courtney avoided punishment for her foul language. The shorter brunette shrugged in the workers direction, reaching up with her right hand to try and clean out her ear as if she was becoming deaf.

"I only caught a word. Intruder." Julie calmly explained, sidestepping out of the way of a stream of bantering seniors.

"It's probably another drill. Hella booooring! Let's go to my locker quick so we can have something to do during the thrilling hour we're going to spend sitting in a corner."

Courtney began to plow her way through the swarm of chattering students. Despite her short stature, Courtney always demanded enough attention for people to move out of her way. She wasn't above shoving, after all. Julie shrugged and walked after her, her long strides allowing her to return to her friend's right side. But things seemed wrong.

Everyone was moving in the opposite direction that they were going. Teachers were waving students into the classroom with short, choppy motions, and doors were being locked. Just as Julie realized what the hell was happening, panic broke loose in the narrow hallways. The students around them scattered like frightened deer.

"Courtney…Courtney!" Julie called out, reaching for her friend's sleeve. But Courtney had already stopped in front of the narrow metal compartment that held her possessions. Her hands were on the rusted padlock, but her fingers were frozen on the number "23". Julie followed Courtney's gaze to the opposite end of the now vacant and eerily quiet hallway. A black figure stood in the doorway, his cloak hanging down heavily on the pale, scratched tile. High collar, long sleeves, red clouds. Julie's eyes grew wide and her heart began to thud. The pale, expressionless face that was partially hidden by the height of the cloak rang out to her. She had seen it millions of times before, and she had convinced herself she would have been overjoyed to see it in person, but Julie's emotions were quite the opposite. The spectacles that rested on the figure's nose gleamed in the flickering limelight, and the light accentuated the two dark creases that streaked under the person's eyes. Itachi Uchiha.

"Damnit Courtney, move! Freaking Itachi is in OUR school, the Akatsuki is in OUR school!"


	2. The Abduction

Itachi's black bespectacled gaze locked onto Julie when she spoke. "Sasuke?" The blind-nin mumbled, extending his right arm out in front of himself as if searching for his brother in the school's hallway (as if Sasuke would even stand an arm's length from his still very dangerous brother). It took all of Julie's willpower not to squeal out in terror like a pig headed towards the slaughter. She had seen the effects of Itachi's Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu, and certainly wasn't about to stand around and wait to see it outside of a manga's black and white pages.

"Let's move it, Courtney! He can't possibly be the only one here!" Julie squealed, shaking some sense back into her stone-eyed companion. Courtney's sneakered feet squeaked as she was dragged from her locker down another hallway…one that unfortunately lead deeper into the complex. Julie, who knew all of the pathways in the school by heart, found herself inadvertently avoiding all the hallways that lead to any proper exits. She took a sharp turn around one corner to take a breather with Courtney near a set of rusty water-fountains. "The gym…" Julie breathed, "We could hide in the locker room, no one goes in there anyway." Courtney nodded in silent agreement, her usually pale face flushed tomato red.

As Julie turned to try and haul open the heavy double doors that lead out to the basketball courts, she stopped herself so she could listen. There was…splashing? The sound of sloshing water emanated from the school's nearby lap pool. Groaning, Julie gave a last hearty tug on the doors, then turned to flee again when she heard heavy, dripping footsteps coming from the parallel passageway. Out of her peripheral vision, Julie spotted a bundled sort of mass that was recognizable only as Samehada, Kisame Hoshigaki's sword. This time, Courtney was aware enough to spot her attacker just as quickly as Julie had. In response, Courtney pried a heavy textbook from her overstuffed book bag and heaved it just far enough for it to come crashing down on Kisame's toes. Satisfied with the howl Courtney received in response, she smiled devilishly and extended her hand for her friend to take as the duo began to run. For a moment Julie grinned back, and the two friend's fingers began to intertwine, until a searing pain in her palm caused Julie to recoil her hand back.

A dark red gash was now present, cutting horizontally, across Julie's palm. The pain stung significantly, especially to Julie who had never sustained as much as a broken bone before. Reality came crashing quickly back down again. This wasn't all fun and games…two normal girls were not going to beat two Akatsuki members, much less one. Not a chance. Julie clumsily pirouetted out of the way of another attack, and she had spun around just in time to see Kisame draw another throwing star from the sleeves of his black and red cloak. "Run, Courtney!" Julie boomed, pressing her stinging hand hard against the drywall behind her. She started to shuffle, clumsily, along the wall, staining it with a crimson smear in the process. Courtney was staring, wide eyed, back at her companion. It was only after Julie hollered desperately again for her to flee that she actually moved. Reluctantly, Courtney turned and ran, her chunky white sneakers streaking the tile floor with dark smudges.

Behind her, Julie heard the low rumble of laughter emanating from the doorway to the pool. A puddle of water had formed around the shark-nins feet, which he stepped over casually. Julie clenched her jaw, slowly angling her head down in such a way so she could watch Kisame out of the corner of her eye. No doubt he found the sight of her hilarious. A misfit brunette, who was dumb enough to hang around in a school full of S-Class villains. Well, she'd show him. Julie wasn't ready to go down without a fight. Scrambling to grab the throwing star that was laying in the middle of the hallway, she stumbled forward clumsily and wrapped her fingers around the slick metal. Julie's heart was thumping, the deep, rapid tattoo hammering in her temples. Kisame simply laughed as he eyed the girl, who he belittled in height. The Monster of the Hidden Mist approached Julie slowly, savoring the moment before the kunai that he gripped in his hand would bite into her pale, fragile flesh. And then, suddenly, Kisame stopped.

The look in that girls eyes…it was cold, unwavering. Kisame, although he greeted himself with that same gaze every morning in his bedroom mirror, was surprised to see it reflected back at him by such a feeble being. The clumsy brunette gripped the throwing star with shaking hands, accidently allowing her fingers to fumble over the slippery metal, but the threat of a weapon wasn't what frightened Kisame. No…it was the purple chakra that was emanating from her bloody fingertips. Kisame had only seen such chakra behavior from a biju… but it didn't last long.

A hand grasped Julie's wrist with stone-like fingers. Julie's daze was broken, her weapon shaken from her hands. She recognized the hand that was holding her wrist immediately. Tanned skin, tattooed bands, black tendrils. Kakuzu.

"You're done for now, sweetheart!" Kisame blurted out with a laugh, apparently over his bout of confusion. His eyes flickered over to the undead-duo, who were standing at the furthest recesses of the aging hallway. Hidan looked positively bored. He had Courtney flung over his shoulder like a sack of flour…and it was clear that the poor girl had gotten a nosebleed on the first sight of him. Hidan was staring at the ceiling with seemingly innocent interest, as if standing with an unconscious girl slung over your shoulder was a perfectly casual action. Kakuzu, however, was staring at Julie with pity…or maybe disgust, it was hard to tell.

"Hurry up, you heathen, it's freaking drafty over here." Hidan complained, scrunching up his nose in childish frustration. Kakuzu rolled his eyes and, almost reluctantly, reeled his hand back with Julie still trapped in his grasp. She screamed again as she was dragged, along her back, across the gap separating her and the money-obsessed ninja. Resistance was completely, and utterly, futile. Within seconds Julie found herself, dangling by her wrist, at eye level with the green eyed Akatsuki member. Just for a moment their eyes locked, and the only sound was Julie's thundering heartbeat.

"Oh will you get on with it, you lazy fucker? She's standing right there, for Jashin's sake!" Hidan screeched, breaking the tense silence. Almost reluctantly, Kakuzu raised his free hand and wrapped his fingers around Julie's neck, giving it a quick twist to the right. Instantly Julie's vision swam with dark spots, and the last thing she heard being, "Now was that so hard, heathen?" before drifting into unconsciousness.


	3. An Evil? Organization

The room she had been placed in was terribly tacky…that was the first thing Julie noticed when the heavy fog cleared from her mind. Julie recalled vague memories of being moved about and carried into her velvet-covered chamber, but none of them were vivid enough for her to get a grasp on where she was…though Julie had a hunch. The Akatsuki's base. She also had a hunch as to whose room she was in.

The bed Julie had been placed on was large and heart shaped, with a backboard made of richly colored oak. The silk sheets, which had obviously been covered with a thin layer of dust until recently, were a faded red. Their smooth texture clashed with the superfluous amount of velvet that covered the interior of the room. In fact, just about everything in that room was clashing. The only Akatsuki member who would have a room like this, a room so neglected and gaudy, would be none other than Orochimaru. Julie shuddered audibly and flung herself from the bed. Disgusting! She could only imagine the twisted things that serpent of a man could've done in there. At least Orochimaru wasn't in the organization anymore… Julie could find comfort in that one fact.

After her shudders ceased, Julie crept soundlessly across the room's shag carpeting towards a beam of light that was shining out through the gap underneath a door. If she listened carefully enough, Julie could hear murmurs coming from another room. It was hard out to pick out single voices in the garbled audio, but Julie tried anyway.

"This is fucking ridiculous!" A voice that sounded an awful like Hidan's yelled from the other room, "Five hundred channels with nothing on? Jashin would be ashamed!" That made Julie laugh a bit, which she instantly regretted doing. This wasn't a laughing matter at all! Here she was, stuck in a strange (and rather kinky bedroom) with several mass murderers outside of her door and she was laughing? Julie forced herself to straighten out her expression, then leaned in closer towards the door.

"No…no…still no. Come on, Sasori! You're just making it worse. Twist the antenna THAT way!" Another member yelled out. Julie shivered again. This time it was Kisame speaking. His low voice offended her eardrums, making her mind flash back to the scene with him and Courtney in the hallway. His blue skin and jagged rows of teeth…if it wasn't for another voice cutting through the rumble of sound, Julie certainly would have become terribly lost in her hellish recollections. The low, calm vibrato of a man's voice rung out clearly from the gap under her door.

"Will you three be quiet, I'm trying to read." The rich voice demanded. Julie recognized it as belonging to Kakuzu, the man who had acted in her capture. Julie raised her hand up to her bruised neck and rubbed it gingerly. Despite the fact that these people had captured her and nearly snapped her neck, the casual conversation they were having didn't seem like the banter of normal villains. This realization gave Julie the strength to slowly inch her hand towards the door and grasp the dusty, golden handle that protruded from it.

Julie cringed when the door creaked as it was pushed open. She wished her entrance hadn't been so obvious, but it was too late now. Instead of being timid, Julie threw to door open the remainder of the way with a bang and stepped forward into her new surroundings…those of which were much different than she had anticipated.

Frat boys…that seemed like a good way to describe the scene in front of her. Multiple male Akatsuki members were strewn about the cluttered room. Garbage and half-empty take out boxes coated the top of an old and rather rickety coffee table. A small T.V. was shoved up against a white plaster wall and behind a torn sofa was a kitchen with an island and bar stools. The second they all caught sight of her, the Akatsuki members froze where they stood. Not out of fear, of course, but out of surprise. The red-haired puppeteer Sasori was standing in front of a cheap, blocky television, both of his hands glued to the twisted metal antenna. He stared at Julie with a low level of interest before shrugging off her presence then returning to the task at hand. Hidan was slouched over in a beanbag chair in the corner, random splatters of red peppering his skin and the tattered remains of his most recently issued black and red cloak. A bruise discolored the left side of his sneering face, probably the repercussion of swearing at Kakuzu back at the school. For a moment, however, Julie could've sworn the wound was fading…right before her eyes. Speaking of Kakuzu, Julie has spotted him on the tan sofa in the center of the room, peering over the top of his newspaper with those strange, green eyes. She remembered those eyes…vaguely recalling them looming over her in that dark, and rather tacky, room she had just freed herself from. Suddenly they were gone again, Kakuzu had raised his reading material up to further shield his face.

Julie turned back to glare at Hidan, who still had that fox-like grin slashed across his face. "Iron skin's a bitch, isn't it?" She snapped, referring to one of Kakuzu's favorite jutsu's. That wiped the albino's grin off his face pretty fast, but only for a moment as the gears in his brain spun rapidly, trying to find a decent comeback.

"Well, it looks like you would know!" Hidan replied, laughing at himself as he pointed at the bruises that formed a muted collar around Julie's neck. Kakuzu shook his head at his partner's remark. The joke was fine, the timing was just way off…as was typical.

"The leader wanted to see this girl, you know. Someone should take her, I'm not about to myself." Kakuzu mumbled, his low, rumbling voice cutting through the noise in the organization's living room. Hidan stopped laughing and pressed his right finger against his nose, shouting out "Not it!" in a rather childish manner. No one else in the room mimicked him, but by their lazy expressions it was clear that they didn't want to either. Kakuzu let out a low groan, folding back up his paper as he rose up to his feet. "Fine, I'll do it myself. Just like everything else around here! The bills, the expenses…" The stitched-nin grumbled, stepping over to Julie who suddenly felt very small in his midst. Kakuzu was the second tallest member of the Akatsuki, Kisame being the first. The older ninja reached down and gripped onto Julie's wrist. His movement were fast, but for some reason his hold was light as he swept Julie down across the cluttered media-room and down a dimly lit corridor, where a black door stood ominously at the end.


	4. Meeting the Leader

The color was what set Julie off. Black? Who painted a door black? Not even the most despicable organization's leader could be that tasteless…could he? Julie's mind drifted off to a series of thoughts concerning the fashion police, but her train was promptly derailed when Kakuzu elbowed her in the side. "Hey, I told you to go in." He grumbled, his voice quickly losing whatever small amount of charm it held before. Now its low rumble was accented with a sliver of malice. Julie could understand why, she'd be cross too if she was stuck having to babysit two teenaged prisoners all day.

The brunette reached out slowly and grasped onto the cold, rusted surface of the once-gold doorknob. Only then did Julie notice how slick her palms were becoming. Not caring much for her dignity at the moment, Julie wiped her hands off on her pants with one obvious motion, then reached back up again and pried open the door. It squealed on rusty hinges as it swung into an open position, or at least as far as its aged components would allow. The inside of the room that the door revealed was just as dark as whatever tarlike paint had been slopped onto its entrance. Julie really would've preferred to be anywhere else at the moment. Shark pit, hole full of snakes, giant sharp-bladed fan…but Kakuzu's presence behind her did just what a good shove would. It sent her, arms extended, into the mysterious abyss. The door, wheezing out in protest, swung behind her and cut off any flicker of light that Julie would've relished. And then it was quiet.

Julie rubbed her eyes in desperation. They weren't adjusting fast enough. The room was pitch black, shadow upon shadow. The only noise was the whumpf whumpf of her heartbeat, thudding in her ears with a sound like someone whacking a wall with a pillow. And then there was the breathing. Not her own, which is what made the ordinary sound so frightening. 

"This is taking too long." Someone grumbled. "You did the same thing for me and now it's just so goddamn boring." Julie instantly recognized the voice as belonging to Courtney, and that made her smile. A person moaned from the furthest recesses of the room, obviously annoyed at Courtney for killing the mood.

"Fine, have it your way. You have no respect for suspense, little girl." The male voice responded, and with the click of a chain light flooded back into the room. The light source was a dusty old light bulb, dangling from its cord and a piece of string. Cobwebs hung from the flickering orb, swaying along with it like a haunted metronome. The room, as dim as it was, only revealed so much, but Julie saw enough to know what she was dealing with. Those eyes, that laser-guided glare. Even behind his shroud of darkness Julie recognized who it was. Pein. The leader, the top dog, the biggest fish in this little grimy pond. That fact alone reminded Julie to hold her tongue.

Pein leaned forward against his wooden desk, his seat creaking in response to his movements. He folded his hands together, as if in prayer, then pressed the tips of his index fingers against his lower lip. "I'd say welcome to the Akatsuki, but that is far too formal. You aren't 'welcome' here, per say. You're our prisoners, so really you aren't welcome. You don't have choice in whether you stay or go, for you are pawns in my hands, loyal servants to my divine po-"

"Oh blah blah BLAH! Jeez, another thing that I've heard one too many times. Couldn't you have thought of a new introduction in the twenty minutes we sat here?" Courtney snapped, fearless in the eyes of such a powerful ninja. A laugh bubbled up in Julie's chest, but she quickly swallowed it down and put on one of her best serious expressions. Pein's right eye began to twitch erratically as he lowered his hands, smoothing out the yellowed papers on his desk as if that would iron out his anger.

"That is…entirely irrelevant. My first speech was fantastic, so there's no harm in using it again." Pein growled, pausing to clear his throat. "As I was saying! Because you are my prisoners, you of course will do as I say. I am your guard, your warden, your overlo-"

"Yeah, but why DID you capture us in the first place?" Julie questioned. Julie usually had a pretty long fuse when it came to dealing with people (which is exactly why she didn't react too much towards Courtney's antics), but in this type of situation her patience could get worn down pretty thin, pretty fast. "I don't understand it, neither me or Courtney is fit to be a ninja and-"

"Well, maybe except for me." Courtney interjected, grinning in a goofy sort of way and tilting down her head so the lenses of her glasses glinted in the dim light. A crescent shaped bruise framed her right eye, which made Julie rethink her assumption about where Hidan had gotten his own set of wounds. However, Courtney's rash behavior got her into plenty of fistfights, so it was unsurprising. Sensing Julie's anger, Courtney quickly tried to take back what she said. "Ah, but you're right. Please do continue."

Julie ahemed in an exaggerated sort of way, then continued on with her question. "Anyway, we're not suitable to be ninjas and obviously we're not very good hostages, so why take us in the first place? I honestly doubt we'd be worth any sort of bounty, even considering how many noses Courtney has broken."

Pein was quiet for several sluggish minutes, and though some people would've thought that he was just trying to be suspenseful again, Julie knew better. She could see it in his face. He had absolutely no clue. Finally, the Akatsuki leader spoke, his tone more solemn than before.

"Listen, things have gone downhill here since the whole jinchuuriki thing went down." Pein explained, shaking his head and speaking in a strangely human tone of voice. "I couldn't think of anything new to do, my world-domination plans are spent for the moment. But in the meantime, I've been trying to keep the troops occupied. Zetsu took some of the other members out on a…well, on a joy ride for better words, and I suppose they just ended up plundering your school. Nothing personal about it, but for the time being you're stuck with us…as prisoners of war." Pein smirked a bit as he finished his explanation. Apparently his sympathy was short lived.

Julie stood in front of Pein's desk in stunned silence. Her face became increasingly more flushed. "You…you have no reason? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" Courtney nodded in agreement from behind Julie, simultaneously trying to untie her shoe to hurl at the Leader. Before the short brunette could launch any projectiles, her taller counterpart reached over and grabbed onto her wrist. "C'mon, we're getting out of this dusty office. I'm going to get to the bottom of this idiotic fun-house of an organization if it's the last thing I do!" And with that, Julie stormed out of the room, hauling Courtney along with her.

Pein sat alone, again in the dark…or so he thought. He failed to notice the hint of an orange spiral mask hovering above his shoulder, muted in color by the heavy shadows. The crimson of a sharingan flickered like a red blade through the darkness.

~They will prove to be useful…~


	5. Rocks and Trickery

There was nothing that would've persuaded Julie to stay in that grimy room for a second more. Nothing, not even money, and it took a lot for Julie to turn down cold hard cash. Julie fumbled with the doorknob and flung open the door, which squealed loudly on rusted hinges then banged against the plaster wall of the narrow hallway. That was really when she started running, dragging Courtney along behind her like some sort of life-sized ragdoll. "Outta the way!" Julie screamed, her usually well articulated voice becoming jumbled and panicked. Kakuzu, who had been lounging around the narrow corridor counting a fistful of bills, had to flatten himself up against the wall to avoid being trampled over.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, watching Julie zip past him like a freight train. But the brunette didn't stop, not to any protest, not even when Kakuzu's money slipped from his hands and fluttered down to the cheap carpeting. The tall ninja promptly pounced upon the bills, like a football player protecting the ball. Julie almost expected him to start tearing up, but he didn't…however his expression gave the impression that he was pretty close to. Julie, scrambling to remember how many turns Kakuzu had taken, weaved left and right through narrow entry ways and into strange foreign rooms. A member's bedroom with pink drapes and dangerous looking clay figures (which Julie was careful to sidestep around, much to Courtney's protest), a broom closet filled to bursting with empty ramen cups, a table piled high with Akatsuki merchandise. But there was no sign of an exit, even after all of the teenagers' energy was exerted and they were reduced to trudging like zombies down the never-ending shag carpet maze. 

"This is a waste of time. I'm hungry, we should've just stayed in the T.V. room with everyone else. I mean, it's not that bad here, right? We always wanted to be ninjas." Courtney moaned, trying to rationalize with Julie. Her legs were much shorter than her companion's, and all of this frantic searching was really wearing on her. Julie, however, was inconsolable.

"We aren't ninjas though, Courtney! We're prisoners without a purpose, and I'm getting out of this man-cave if it's the last thing I do! I swear, I saw a rat the size of a dinner platter in that one closet and I'm not about ready t-…" There it was, their exit. Julie had heaved open one more door in a last ditch effort and revealed something that made her heart skip a beat. A cavern had been concealed behind one extremely ordinary-looking door. The cave was gigantic, with monstrous stalactites and towering stony pillars. But most importantly was the boulder. A beast of a rock was wedged into the westward facing wall. Seals were draped over its rugged surface, hinting towards its importance. Mouth agape, Julie stared at the rock for a solid minute before letting out a scream of delight. "It's here, it's here! I found it!" She screamed, "That's the exit, I remember it from the manga! Ooooh, my mom said those books were useless but look at me now!" Julie, who hardly ever participated in any frivolous activity such as skipping, made an exception as she bounded over to the rock and slammed into it with her arms extended.

Courtney, however, was apprehensive. She wasted no time in bursting Julie's bubble.  
"Will you quit humping that rock!" Courtney exclaimed, her booming voice proving to be enough to dislodge Julie from the boulder. "I think you're forgetting one key point, and I'm not even sure why I've thought of this and you haven't, but you can't open that damn thing!"

Julie frowned. "Well, I know that…but don't you think we could move it just a little bit? I mean, it doesn't even have to go open all the way we ju-"

"It wouldn't move an inch, that thing is huge!"

"Yeah, like your mom!" 

"You take that back, damnit!"

Unbeknownst to the bickering duo, who had promptly started a rather clumsy slap fight, there was another presence in the cavern other than their own. Quiet feet pattered against the smooth stone floor, almost soundless over the roar of Julie and Courtney's battle. "Are you two looking for the way out?" A child-like voice sounded, breaking up the brunettes' short-lived catfight. Julie froze the second she realized they were being watched, her hand still twisted up in her companion's thick hair. Courtney, however, proceeded to continue bludgeoning Julie's leg with her own converse sneaker for several moments before stopping.

"Who are you?" Julie asked, slowly unraveling her hand from Courtney's hair. The shorter girl flopped to the ground with a loud 'oomph', kicking up a bloom of dust in the process. Julie squinted her eyes to see the figure through the darkness. A warm hint of orange appeared from the abyss as the figure stepped closer. At first the mysterious individual looked to be nothing out of the ordinary. He wore dark clothes and a scarf, but the clincher was the man's mask. A bright orange spiral covered the person's face, allowing only one dark hole for sight. "Tobi…" Julie muttered, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity. "What are you doing in here?"

Tobi smiled. Of course Julie couldn't see it, but his shoulders rose up in a pleasant sort of way that hinted towards his hidden expression. "Tobi is a good boy, so Tobi knows the way out! Tobi will take you there, if you'd like," The innocent Akatsuki-wanabe said, pointing dramatically back towards the dark shadows from which he appeared. "Tobi says it's this way!"

Julie beamed. Finally, a straight answer from one of these guys! Sure, this particular member wasn't nearly as smart as the rest, but some guidance was better than none. Julie wasn't about to go wandering blindly back into that dingy maze anyway. "Yeah, thanks! I'd like nothing more than to get out of here." She exclaimed, reaching down and grasping onto Courtney's wrist. Julie hauled her friend up to her feet, wasting no time in dragging her along after Tobi.

"W-w-wait a minute, Julie! I have a bad feeling about this." Courtney blubbered, stumbling over her own feet as she tried to keep up with her longer-limbed companion.

"Oh come on Courtney, by now I've learned not to trust your intuition." Julie curtly replied, dismissing Courtney's concerns with a casual flick of her hand. She willingly stepped into the shadows, and Courtney followed, not so readily, along after her. 

The darkness was heavy, covering Julie like a blanket and muting her senses. She had to squint and scrunch up her nose to see Tobi's murky outline, but the sounds of his footsteps were enough to lead her down along several hallways and through a doorway. For some reason, Julie had the sneaking suspicion that they were simply going deeper into the bowels of the Akatsuki building, but before she could voice her concerns to Tobi…they stopped. Or rather, their guide did. Julie had stepped right into his back. Her nose got smashed into the musty fabric of his scarf and Julie quickly stumbled backwards. She opened her mouth to apologize, only to be silenced by a sharp pinch of pain in the side of her neck. The coldness of the metal that was pressed against her collarbone quickly faded, turned warm by a delayed trickle of blood. "T-tobi, what's going on here?" Julie gasped, jerking to try and get away from the unknown weapon. She was held still by the pressure exerted on the blade, digging the sharp edge deeper into her ivory flesh. Courtney shouted, something wordless, and then with the click of a light switch their whole world took on a haunting orange glow. A single bulb dangled between Julie and her assailant, and it swung from side to side in a hypnotic sort of way. Tobi's comical mask loomed over Julie's head, mere inches from her face. The emptiness of its single eye-hole was filled with something more horrifying than mere darkness could ever be. A sharingan. Its crimson hue was sharp in the dim chamber. Julie took in a sharp gasp of air, the wound on her neck stinging in response. "Don't look at it!" She cried, but it was too late for both Julie and her companion. The world quickly melted away, replaced by vivid red and black. 


	6. Tsukuyomi

Julie's body suddenly became numb, speckled with pinpricks of pain as she spiraled downwards. Her stomach writhed, lifting up into her chest and pressing against her ribcage. Then suddenly she crumpled, her legs tangling underneath her as her feet abruptly slapped upon land. The ground rushed up to her face, a jagged smear of rust-colored soil, and scratched upon her porcelain cheeks. When Julie's dusty lashes fluttered open she saw nothing but red earth, dotted with razor sharp obsidian. She pressed her hands against the rough ground, ignoring the bites of pain in her palms. Hauling herself upright, body swaying and her bloody hands dangling limply at her sides, Julie was perplexed to say the least. It was as if she had stumbled down the proverbial rabbit hole and was now the Alice in a world unknown. Julie's eyes fell upon a crimson sky, adorned by a black crescent moon that hung ,impossibly large, over the slim horizon. Everything was red and black, from the earth to the smallest bit of dust hovering in the hazy moonlight. Julie looked out of place in the nearly monochromatic realm, with her back against rugged stalagmites and the dark skyscrapers in the distance. Such made it easy for her to spot her pale companion, conspicuous against the darkly colored soil, who had her face planted into the ground and was viciously spitting out muffled profanities. Julie took a frantic stride in her direction, but when a figure flickered to life on the horizon it stopped her dead in her tracks…and Julie didn't have to look again to figure out who it was. With his telltale spiral mask it was obvious. Tobi. Panic crashed down upon Julie's subconscious like a ton of bricks. This was Tsukuyomi, she realized, the self-proclaimed most dangerous genjutsu in the entire ninja world. And Courtney and Julie were in the thick of it all. "Shit."

It was futile to run, but Julie tried to anyway. For a split second she felt the presence of someone behind her, but by the time her reflexes had caught up it was too late. Something struck against her chest, hard and fast. At first there was nothing but pressure, the force of the blow, but then came then pain... It rippled up Julie's collarbone and made her entire chest scream. The brunette's jaw dropped, and from her maw she released an animalistic squeal that sounded strange and foreign even to her very own ears. The realization that struck Julie was worse than the pain...because as the teenager dared to look down at her chest, the sight that greeted her was more horrendous than any physical agony could ever be. A metal stake, black as the obsidian rocks, was lodged under Julie's collarbone. The cold metal had skewered her straight through. Clutching onto the blunt end of the spear was none other than Tobi, who held the weapon so casually it might have just been a bushel of flowers for all he cared. By the way his shoulders were bouncing, Julie could tell he was laughing at her...at the hopelessness of her predicament, at her weakness. She opened her mouth to scream at the Uchiha with venom that would rival Courtney's, but no words spilled out...only blood. Tobi's quiet laughter ceased, replaced by a sudden air of seriousness as the villain flicked his wrist. The world became a blur and Julie found herself being flung through the air. Weightlessness only lasted for a split second, quickly replaced by another smothering wave of pain as the brunette crashed into the sharp stalagmites behind her. Julie arched her back and howled as she crumpled helplessly to the gravel beneath her.

It was only then that Courtney began to scream. Not out of pain, not yet, but out of fear and fury. Time seemed wrong. To Julie, her one sided battle lasted no longer than an instant, but to Courtney... Every single movement she witnessed was painfully sluggish. And she couldn't move, not even when the spear pierced her poor companion's shoulder blade... One agonizing inch at a time. "S-stop, you bastard!" Courtney screeched in a cracking voice. The bespectacled brunette rocketed across the uneven terrain, pumping her short limbs so fast she could've sworn they were nothing but a blur. Of course that wasn't the case, especially not to Tobi's sharingan, which glinted blood red from behind his spiral mask. The stealthy ninja shifted to the right, suddenly disappearing into thin air. Courtney, startled, screeched to a stop several yards away from her injured companion. That was a fatal mistake, just like running around in a school swarming with S-rank ninjas had been. Tobi reappeared behind Courtney's back, emerging from a spiraling flock of crows who squawked with hoarse voices at the ever rising moon. The short brunette whirled around, frightened by the sudden explosion of feathers. With a surprising amount grace, the Uchiha swung the blunt end of the spear at Courtney's forehead, striking her with the blackened metal between the eyes. Crack! A sickening snap resounded over the rugged wasteland. Courtney's glasses had been split in two, not to mention the skin on her forehead, which was now slick with blood. She shrieked and crumbled to the ground as she clutched at her forehead. "You bastard, you bastard!" Courtney cried, trying to press her shattered lenses back up against her face.

Tobi casually stepped away from the bespectacled brunette, completely disregarding her harsh words and howls of pain. The darkly-garbed ninja began to slink towards Julie, the muscles in his shoulders rolling like a cat's. Tobi gave off a predatory aura. That coupled with his fearsome gaze gave Courtney the chills. "You...you stay away from her, you hear me? Just stay away!" She screamed, but all the vicious words in the world couldn't hide the fear in her voice. Tobi didn't falter, he didn't even give Courtney a backwards glance. Casually, Tobi squatted down beside Julie, and Courtney found herself wondering how they could've overlooked the Akatsuki member's frightening physique. Raising an intimidating arm, Tobi grasped onto Julie's face with one hand. Her lips pursed together, which sent blood dribbling down her chin. Tobi scoffed, tipping Julie's head from side to side. Her limp neck provided no resistance. "What a feeble little girl..." Tobi grumbled, his voice taking a turn for the sinister. "Such a disappointment. What the other members saw in you is beyond me. Oh well, I wash my hands of you!" Lifting the spear he still clutched in his right hand, Tobi was about to strike when, without warning, Julie's eyes snapped open. Her pupils were impossibly wide, like dark tunnels, turning nearly all of her eyes black. That was enough to frighten the Uchiha, or at least stall his attack. In that moment of hesitation, a chakra of sorts began to emanate from Julie's body. Her pores seemed to ooze a purple haze, which coiled protectively around her arms and torso.

The dark mist spiraled down to her fingertips, thickening until it almost looked solid. Twisting tightly, the purple chakra seemed to be forming claws atop of Julie's nails, and before Tobi could come to realize the severity of his position, Julie struck. There was no in-between motion. The brunette was purely down one minute and standing the next. The dagger-like formations sprouting from her fingers stretched down to her knees, tinkling together like metallic wind chimes as Julie's hands twitched. Without a moment's uncertainty, the teen swung her arm around and struck Tobi's face. Tobi, who was still kneeling on the ground, tumbled backwards. His spiral mask began to crack from the blow. sending several orange fragments crumbling to the jagged earth. The broken mask provided an insight to the mysterious ninja's appearance. Its imperfection revealed his aged and scarred skin. Purple smoke billowed from the shards, eating away at the disguise's material. "You little bitch!" The Uchiha snapped, all of the eloquence evaporating from his voice. He scrambled to his feet, taking several bounds away from the possessed brunette before daring to draw another weapon. The metal of a black throwing knife glistened in Tobi's palm, which he hurled at Julie. Her hands lifted up immediately, looking as if they had a mind of their own. Julie's gestures resembled a marionette's, stiff and disjointed…but coupled with deadly accuracy. Clink! The sound of metal against metal. Julie had caught Tobi's kunai in midair, pinching it between two of her makeshift purple blades…but instead of being angry, Tobi began to smirk. His demented smile was partially visible behind his warped mask. Even when Julie threw the kunai back at him, whose metal was steaming with purple smoke, Tobi did not flounder. Instead, his muscular form vanished in another flurry of glossy black feathers. Julie whipped her head from side to side like an animal who had lost track of her prey. She growled, low and guttural, as the blades on her hands flared and stretched down closer to the ground.

Courtney squeaked as if she was struggling to find her voice. For a girl who was always outspoken, silencing her was a feat in itself. Struggling to see through her shattered frames, Courtney could hardly make out what was going on. Although she could tell her companion was upright, her bizarre condition remained a mystery. It almost looked like Julie and Tobi were fighting, but that was ridiculous. Impossible. As Courtney struggled to haul herself up to her feet Tobi simultaneously disappeared. For a split second, Courtney's line of sight was clear and she could make out Julie's hazy form. The shorter brunette gasped dryly, at once realizing how hoarse her voice had become. Julie was slowly hunching down on all fours. Her entire body flickered with violet energy. Courtney, positively transfixed by the sheen of Julie's dilated pupils, only held her gaze for a moment before the earth began to rumble. A single crack resounded over the wasteland. Each snap was followed by another, and another, until they were sounding in such quick succession that the whole realm was filled with a drum roll. With each rumble a jagged cross burst from the soil, colored the same black as Tobi's spear. The once barren landscape was quickly transformed until it resembled a forest filled with dark and barren trees. The only reason Courtney and Julie, if you could still call her that, weren't impaled was because of luck (or at least that's what Courtney had thought at the time). Two vacant circles remained around the duo. The crosses were so tightly compacted they became impenetrable. Like prisons.

Tobi wasted no time in reappearing. He didn't flicker back to life near Julie, however. No no, if the maddened little girl was still furious that would be a terrible idea. And Tobi was too much of a cowardly fighter to brave another encounter. Instead, he dropped from the sky and landed on a distant cross, one that loomed higher than the others. Tobi, who was still gazing upon the transformed girl with devilish interest, opened his mouth to speak. "Perhaps I was wrong about you, young one. Your chakra is quite impress...impressive." Tobi began his voice tapering down to a whisper as he noticed something was amiss. The second empty space was... Well, empty. A massive chakra flared behind the Uchiha, who barely managed to turn around in time to face his opponent. Julie was poised on a cross which has burst diagonally from the soil, determination vivid in her wide eyes. Her narrow claws clutched onto the cross's black surface, causing the metal to steam. Tobi growled, clenching his jaw, and with a flick of his wrist the oversized crucifixes turned on Julie and stabbed at her from every angle. The brunette's body tensed as she braved the jagged crosses' assault, her purple aura flaring to the max. Blood mingled with violet. Tobi was perplexed. Why hadn't she moved, why didn't she run? And as Julie lowered her jaw she answered his question. "KAI!" Julie screamed, her chakra spiking to unimaginable levels before winking out of existence, rings of purple dispersing from her body like shock waves. The entire crimson and black world shuddered. The genjutsu was broken. Crosses either toppled like dominoes or burst into plumes of ash. Tobi's figure began to melt away, anger prominent on his face before the whole tell collapsed into blackness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Voices hushed, speaking in frantic whispers. Feet padded franticly against the cement floors. A door slammed shut somewhere, then promptly reopened.

"Good Jashin! What the fuck happened here?"

"Looks like a cat-fight, un."

"Don't be stupid, they'd never hurt each other so badly. Let's get them out of here, fast."

Julie's body felt impossibly heavy, turning even the slightest movement into an inconceivable effort. That's why, when two broad hands carefully wedged themselves under her body, Julie was paralyzed. They lifted her up slowly and pressed her against the concave of a chest. It's warmth enveloped her. Broad arms cradled her as if she was made of glass. Julie's fingers twitched, trying desperately to clutch at the fabric covering the man's torso. He held her closer instead. A distant voice whispered in Julie's ear one with a low and rich timbre. Even though his voice sounded so far away, Julie could feel a pair of velvet lips flutter against her cheek. "You're safe now." The man breathed, and as Julie struggled to open her eyes she saw two emerald spheres staring back down at her, embossed in black. Then she succumbed back to the abyss.


End file.
